Baking and stuff

[Tapewolf]

I've just managed to bake a pair of extremely delicious pumpkin pies.  Since pumpkin puree is virtually impossible to get hold of in this country, it seems that aside from US ex-pats I'm about the only person in the UK who wants to make them.  So I had to puree the damn thing myself - with a potato masher.  It actually worked quite well.

The only think that worries me is that Sainsburys sell them as 'carving pumpkins' so it was probably unfit for human consumption or something and I'm gonna be sick in the night. 

Anyway.  It hardly seemed worth starting a thread just for that, so if anyone else has success (or better yet, failure) stories of their adventures on the high seas of baking, feel free to post them here.

[Gabi]

Interesting... So they sell pre-made pumpkin puree in some places? Here everyone mashes their own pumpkins. Congrats on your pies, I hope they haven't hurt you.

[Tapewolf]

Interesting... So they sell pre-made pumpkin puree in some places? Here everyone mashes their own pumpkins.

10 years ago I got hold of some Libby's pumpkin pack, which had the pie recipe on the back of it - that's how I discovered pumkin pie in the first place.  You just can't get them here.

Anyway, no-one bought them except the odd tin or so from me and they gathered dust on the shelf for about two years until they decided to chuck them out, and I've been looking for it ever since.  Armed with a vague memory of the recipe and no clue what the quantities were, I decided to buy a pumpkin and give it my best shot and it appears to have paid off.

Congrats on your pies, I hope they haven't hurt you.

I'll find out in a few hours...

[bill]

So, if you don't post for like 5 hours...

[Tapewolf]

So, if you don't post for like 5 hours...

More like 10 hours.  5 hours from now will be 5am...

[Alondro]

Ah yes, I'll be growing the ugly pumpkins used for baking next year.  I'll need quite a bit of room for the vines.  I like growing my own vegetables and fruits when I can.  I even have a few coffee trees.  Well, I hope you remembered to buy a pumpkin and not a gourd... otherwise YOU WILL DIE!!!   

[Zedd]

Can I have some of that pie?

[Shadrok]

I don't know how the carving pumpkins are grown in Wales, but I know here in the US I have taken carving pumpkins and taken the seeds and roasted them and not had any issues with them.

As for you not having pumpkin pie filling  D:
Granted I've not been a big fan of that kind of pie but still it suprises me.

Found this on wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin_pie

On a different note I've eaten this before and out of curiosity has anyone else?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokeweed

[Damaris]

Oh, hon.  You should have begged someone to mail you some.  Canned pumpkin pie filling grows on trees here... or at least some of the urban cowboys think it does.

I didn't know until last year that carving pumpkins and baking pumpkins were two completely different thing.  I was shocked.  That's what I get for growing up in the suburbs

[Vidar]

The only think that worries me is that Sainsburys sell them as 'carving pumpkins' so it was probably unfit for human consumption or something and I'm gonna be sick in the night. 

Did the pumpkins looke like ordinary pumpkins (round-ish, orange, halloween-like) then they won't hurt you. If they looked different from that, then you probably have a different variety of pumpkin, and they probably still won't hurt you.
I ate a soup made from 'decorative' pumpkins (turkish hat) once, and they didn't hurt me. Soup tasted rather good.

[Tapewolf]

Well, I hope you remembered to buy a pumpkin and not a gourd... otherwise YOU WILL DIE!!!   

Aren't melons and pumpkins gourds?

Can I have some of that pie?

I'm not sure it would survive a journey to the post office let alone to the 'states.  Besides, there are all kinds of weird regulations about sending food to the US as part of the War-Against-Food.  Home-made food was allowed though, I think..

Oh, hon.  You should have begged someone to mail you some.  Canned pumpkin pie filling grows on trees here... or at least some of the urban cowboys think it does.

Don't know if there are problems sending food from the US, but sending it to the US is a big no-no.

I didn't know until last year that carving pumpkins and baking pumpkins were two completely different thing.  I was shocked.  That's what I get for growing up in the suburbs

I didn't know until Friday..

I don't know how the carving pumpkins are grown in Wales, but I know here in the US I have taken carving pumpkins and taken the seeds and roasted them and not had any issues with them.

It seems to have worked okay.  I had assumed they were imported, but it turns out you can grow pumpkins here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/club/your_reports/newsid_3959000/3959035.stm

And yes, Vidar, it was a halloween-like pumpkin.

[Vidar]

And yes, Vidar, it was a halloween-like pumpkin.

Then you will not die by pumpkin.

What's the difference between a carving pumpkin and a baking pumpkin anyway?

[Damaris]

apparently, baking pumpkins look more like this:

http://www.picture-newsletter.com/pumpkin/pumpkin-18_small.jpg

if I understood the lecture given to me by my friend.  (I don't know if that's the right variety, but he said it looked more along this line).  They apparently have more of a taste to them.  I dunno.  I'm excited to hear how yours turned out.

[Alondro]

Heh, you'd have known from the taste if you used a gourd.  They're very stringy and bitter.    But yes, baking pumpins have more flavor and look quite different, often grayish and lumpy and elongated.  that's why we call them 'ugly pumpkins'.   

[Hilary]

I actually planted some of the seeds from last year's halloween pumpkins, and they have now taken over a corner of my yard. I've got pumpkins galore, and I just made three pies. Yummy. We didn't have any whipped cream, so I made some of my own, and it was super tasty.

I felt very powerful, considering that the most cooking I ever do is making cake-in-a-box. Whee!

My uncle set an oven mitt on fire when we were cooking a turkey recently. We didn't realize it at first, so it was just sitting on the countertop for about fifteen seconds, flaming. My mom walked in and treated us to a choice profanity. 

[xHaZxMaTx]

Hashbrown Hamburger Helper is hard to make.

[Jim Halisstrad]

<.<
>.>
I like baking double chocolate chip cookies...
That does remind me though, thanksgiving isn't too far off and this year I've been put on dessert making.  I need to start searching the net for some good recipes.  Probably should bake couple of test pies first, seeing as this will be the first time I have attempted make pie.

[Hilary]

That does remind me though, thanksgiving isn't too far off and this year I've been put on dessert making. I need to start searching the net for some good recipes.

Those lemon squares you can buy the box mixes for are really good, and they're easy to make. They come in key lime, too. Yummy.

EDIT- I just spent about 10 minutes trying to remember where your signature comes from. I could remember how Pumba said it, and so I kept saying it out loud, thinking it would jog my memory, and then I yelled, "Aha! Pumba!"
My family now believes I have been pulled into a new level of insanity.

[Jim Halisstrad]

My family now believes I have been pulled into a new level of insanity.

  Thats what I'm here for!

Also, thanks for the advice!  I should take another shopping adventure next week and I will totally check that out.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

My uncle set an oven mitt on fire when we were cooking a turkey recently. We didn't realize it at first, so it was just sitting on the countertop for about fifteen seconds, flaming. My mom walked in and treated us to a choice profanity. 

Bwahahahahaha! That's great :-)

... not the setting on fire, mind, but that nobody noticed...

[Vidar]

That does remind me though, thanksgiving isn't too far off and this year I've been put on dessert making. I need to start searching the net for some good recipes.

Those lemon squares you can buy the box mixes for are really good, and they're easy to make. They come in key lime, too. Yummy.

Beware of the box mixes! They are teh Ebil Incarnate and will Consume your Soul, as you Consume the resulting Baked Ebil!

Also, check this link for about a zillion bar-style cookie recipes. I like the raspberry-cream bars.

And then, Lemon Squares

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Beat butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy, then stir in flour until blended well.  (Use a mixer for this, stand-mixer preferred)
Press dough into greased 8x8 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Filling:

2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed == better. Replace with lime or key-lime juice for lime / key-lime squares)
Dash of grated lemon rind (optional)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Beat filling ingredients together until smooth, then spread on top of warm crust. Be careful: the crust will be soft and may 'pit' if you poor from too high.
Return to 350 degree oven and bake for another 25-30 minutes until edges begin to turn a golden brown.

Cool.  Dust with powdered sugar and cut into squares.  Eat. Repeat.

[Miaka]

I have recently discovered that I am actually a pretty good cook. Only figureing this out from the fact that I've made dinner a few times, had it turn out well without any form of recipe, just remembering how dad makes me usually...
And cheesecake. The three or four times I've made cheescake turned out good.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Eating pumpkins are just a variety of squash. If you're doubtful about the edibility of the local pumpkins just go to the vegetable isle of the grocery store and get any hard rind orange/yellow fleshed squash. They cook up the same and taste similar. Actually they will probably taste better. At least in my area of the US pumpkins are grown for size, shape, and color to be decorative, not edible. One year my mom's squash were cross pollinated by the neighbor's carving pumpkins and the squash tasted terrible that year (and were orange skinned and lumpy. Icky mutant squash)

My contribution to silly stories? Hmmm... parchment paper and wax paper are not the same thing and you need to make sure which one you line the pan with before you pour your peanut brittle on it. Peanut brittle will NEVER come off wax paper.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

If you live somewhere that you can get canned pumpkin. With applogies to the rest of the world who use the metric system:

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Take 1 yellow cake mix, reserving 1 cup. Stir with 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 egg and smoosh into bottom of 9 X 13 pan to make crust.

Take 1 can pumpkin, 2 1/2 tsp pumkin spice or equivalent spices, 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed), 2 eggs, 2/3 cup milk. Mix until smooth and pour over "crust".

Take remaining cup cake mix, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup butter. Combine and sprinkle over filling.

Bake 350 degree for 45-50 minutes (until knife comes out dry). Serve with whipped cream.

[Tapewolf]

Well, I cheated and used pre-made pastry cases (which were on special offer - I took this as a good omen).  I then used a highly scientific process to create the pie, having learned roughly how to make the pumpkin mash online and guiltily ignoring the parts involving the blender (since I don't have one).

Basically, once I'd cooked and extracted it, I mashed up the pumpkin flesh, heated it a bit in a saucepan and stirred in a tin of sweetened condensed milk.  To this I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg, the same amount of ginger, and way too much cinnamon.

Then I stirred the spices in until it changed from Abel colour to something more like Llearch's yappity and poured it all out into the two pastry cases and cooked them until they looked right and the knife came out cleanly.

[Vidar]

guiltily ignoring the parts involving the blender (since I don't have one).

PASBASAP (Purchase A Stick Blender As Soon As Possible).

Stick blenders can do most things bar blenders can, and some that bar blenders can't (like blending stuff in a pan), and they're cheap.
When buying one, don't look at the wattage: it's not really important. Add-ons are not good: they take up space, and whatever they do, other things can do better.
A zillion settings is also bad. You only need 2 setting (besides 'ON' and 'OFF'): low speed, and high speed.
Blender should be comfortable to hold, and the buttons easy to reach. If you are not allowed to hold a blender in the store, find another store.
</rant>

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Then I stirred the spices in until it changed from Abel colour to something more like Llearch's yappity and poured it all out into the two pastry cases and cooked them until they looked right and the knife came out cleanly.

*giggle* So my yappity is useful for cooking? :-)

[Hilary]

Yeah, we won't even need a regular measuring system anymore.

'Just add sugar until the batter turns the color of Llearch. If it looks like Miaka's hair or Hilary's shirt, DO NOT EAT. Disguise as cotton candy and give to a local forumite.'

[Zorro]

Let me tell you a secret.

Sweet Potato Pie tastes the same and is WAY easier to get and make!

Good Eats Sweet Potato Pie  http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_24965,00.html 

Transcript of the whole show http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season7/SweetPotato/SweetPotato.htm


   
Sweet Potato Pie
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

1 pound 3 ounces sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
3/4 cup packed, dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
5 egg yolks
Salt
1 (9-inch) deep dish, frozen pie shell
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Special equipment: steamer basket

Put cubed potatoes into steamer basket and place steamer basket into a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than 2 inches from the bottom of basket. Allow to steam for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Mash with potato masher and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place sweet potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment. Add yogurt, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, yolks, and salt, to taste, and beat until well combined. Pour this batter into the pie shell and place onto a sheet pan. Sprinkle pecans on top and drizzle with maple syrup.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the custard reaches 165 to 180 degrees. Remove from oven and cool. Keep refrigerated after cooling.

      
Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: 1 (9-inch) pie
User Rating:   4 Stars

[Hilary]

PASBASAP (Purchase A Stick Blender As Soon As Possible).

Yeah, stick blenders are spiffy. I don't know about other brands, but GE blenders must be good, because my parents got theirs as a wedding present in '77. It's still working perfectly. ^^